Don't Slouch
by SamCyberCat
Summary: Randall does not ask, he simply does. And today, what he wants to do is listen to Henry's heartbeat. One-sided Henry/Randall.


**Notes:** Written for kinkmeme prompt that wanted some Randall/Henry with Randall listening to Henry's heartbeat. Set a while post-PL5, with some spoilers for that game.

* * *

Depending on who you asked, Randall was either the pushiest and most disagreeable person in the world or else he was a loyal friend who just didn't have much value for personal space. Henry liked to think of him as the latter. After spending the last eighteen years devoting his entire life to finding Randall alive, he wasn't about to let any negative thoughts about the man cross his mind now that he had returned.

All the same, a little more concern for personal space would have been nice.

Randall never asked permission - he simply did what he wanted and expected that you'd be okay with it. In the case of Henry, whose whole life was serving Randall, he was usually fine with mostly anything he did. But at the same time, Henry had gone for so long with his life being more fixated on the cause of finding Randall than it was on Randall himself. Because of that, he'd become a stranger to physical contact from other people. His relationship with Angela had been set up in order to protect her and was never actually anything more than simply platonic. Even friendly hugs between him and her had felt strange, so they'd silently agreed not to do such things over the course of their staged relationship.

But now Randall was here and he was big on being affectionate. Grabbing someone in a headlock or a hug were about as common as saying hello was to him. It was a little strange to readjust to having someone like that in your life. A good kind of strange, however.

So, despite being a little unnerved, he wasn't all that surprised when Randall would hug him, such as he'd chosen to do on this occasion. The two of them were sat on a sofa in the lounge and Randall had instinctively cuddled into him. It was a slow day, the weather was warm without being unbearable and Angela had stepped out for a while, so without anything that pressingly needed to be seen to, Henry had no reason not to stay there with him. On top of that, it felt nice.

Or at least, it had been before Randall's head hand purposefully slipped down his chest. Henry knew for certain that he wasn't trying anything, that he was still too enamoured with his revived relationship with Angela to even consider anything like that, but while he knew Randall's intents were innocent he had no idea what exactly those intents were.

The head stopped against Henry's chest and Randall closed his eyes, settling into place. To anyone who hadn't known them, this would have seemed quite questionable, but to Randall, this was just where he wanted to be, so this was where he would be.

"Master Randall...?" Henry prompted.

"Hmm?"

"Wh-what are you- ...I mean, um..."

Henry didn't like questioning Randall's actions where it was avoidable.

Fortunately for him, Randall had a quick answer; "I was just listening to your heartbeat. I kind of wanted to. It feels nice."

"It does?" asked Henry.

If he had been nervous before, that feeling tripled upon hearing that. Which he could only imagine reflected upon his beating heart. As things stood, he found Randall quite attractive. This was something that he'd long been aware of, but was content with simply serving Randall and Angela. As long as they were happy, he was happy. That was all that he wanted from life. And yet... being close to Randall like this almost literally made his heart flutter.

Something that Randall himself was now apparently paying attention to.

"Yeah, it really does," Randall went on, "You have such a great heartbeat. When I listen to Angela's, hers beats in such a serene and relaxed way, but yours is really fast. Its busy, like you always are. I guess both of your heartbeats suit who you are." He chuckled, as if he'd just made a private joke.

"Thank you, Master Randall," replied Henry, not quite sure what to say to that. It had sounded enough like a compliment for him to take it as one.

That small expression of gratitude served as the last thing they said to each other for at least the next hour. Randall just lay there, head pressed against Henry's chest, acting so uncharacteristically calm that it was almost unbelievable. After a while, Henry became so comfortable that he wanted to stroke his hair, but he knew that would be outside of the boundaries between them. Henry Ledore did not overstep boundaries.

And then, as suddenly as he had started; "All right, time to get back to work."

"Work?" Henry looked down at Randall.

"Yeah, I'm sure we've both got plenty to do," Randall confirmed, pulling himself off the sofa and stretching.

"But Master Randall, you are... currently unemployed," Henry delicately reminded.

"Then I should make myself useful by helping you," laughed Randall, "Surely you have work to do."

"Y-yes," Henry admitted. All of the housework, if he was entirely honest. But all the same, part of him just wanted to stay there just a little longer...

"Come on then, time waits for no man," Randall chimed, moving to leave.

"Master Randall?"

"Yes?"

"Perhaps sometime, when you're not so busy, perhaps... I could listen to your heartbeat?"

A smile.

"Sure."

It wasn't until much later that Henry found out that Angela had not asked the same thing. Somehow, Henry asking had clicked as significant in Randall's mind. But then, Randall's mind worked in ways that Henry could not claim to understand. He just knew that as long as he could be around him, he would be happy.


End file.
